dark matter

[yago]

A friend of mine who has 30 gallon community tank said thar a tank must be sparkling clean all the time. Even the gravel must be that way too. He said he uses a vaccum device that he sticks all the way through the gravel and sucks everthing out. I allways thought that is where the bacteria grows in the substrate, and you only vaccum the top for left over food and fecal matter. He claims that his gravel is as clean as the day he bought it. If you keep gravel that clean how can bacteria grow? I am confused, because iam allways fighting ammonia in my tank. Help!

[whitetiger_CJ]

It depends on his filtration, if he has an undergravel filter that it is ok to vaccum all the rocks. the undergravel filter will still have more than enough bacteria to keep the tank going. if he has a side tank filter, than i would caution him on cleaning the racks to that extent. now in your tank, there are some waste control, or ammonia and nitrate destroyers available, I recommend adding Cycle to the tank, it adds bacteria to the tank that will help control the problem. also water changes are a must, 1/4 of the water should be replaced about once every month or two. hope this helps.

[BrianNY]

whitetiger_CJ is mostly correct (although I don't recommend using any product other than Bio Spira). In a well balanced and mature tank, the nitrifying bacteria will colonize itself on anything. You must guard against over vacuuming the gravel in new tanks. If the filters have enough bio holding capacity and are well established, you can gravel vac til your hearts content. JMO

[rubysoho]

I use to vacume ALL my gravel, and none of my fish seemed to care, but since I found out about the bacteria, I only vacume the surface. I haven't seen any difference. I also have a friend who told me he would completely replace his gravel every two months and that his fish were perfectly happy. I never saw the tank, so I don't know for sure. My point is I don't think there is am exact science and as long as you are cleaning your tank regularly, toxins shouldn't be building up at all.

[TomK2]

I hate vaccuuming, but I do it at least once a month. The rest of the month the water is changed by pumping it out and then refilling from an aqueous preparation system (a 35 gallon aerated garbage can holding tank) I even lighty vac while establighing a biofilter, deep vac thereafter.

[fishybidnes]

I do not mean to change this thread, but how do you know when you have vacuumed enough? When I use my vacuum the water comes rolling out of the tank. Before I know it, half the water in the tank is gone and I still have more I need to vacuum. It stirs up the tank something bad and makes everything all cloudy. After about a half an hour the filter settles everything back down. Is this normal? Thanks.

[rubysoho]

perhaps getting a smaller vacume would be good for you. Walmart sells one that is about an inch in diameter. I like using that one, even in my 55 gallon, because it takes out lots of gunk and relatively less water.

[malkore]

I agree with ruby, I think you need a smaller vaccum fishy. That, or try to vacuum half the tank each week at your water change.

As far as all this talk about where the bacteria lives...it's all over. Keep in mind that the bacteria isn't free floating...it colonizes the surfaces of everythign...so a little suction from a gravel vac isn't going to tear it off teh rocks. The bulk of your bacteria lives in the filter and on the surfaces of the gravel, decorations, and the glass walls of the tank. the deeper you go into the substrate, the lower the bacteria population, since the waterflow down there is poor and won't contain a lot of ammonia or nitrite to feed the bacteria.

[hashbaz]

Originally Posted by fishybidnes

I do not mean to change this thread, but how do you know when you have vacuumed enough? When I use my vacuum the water comes rolling out of the tank. Before I know it, half the water in the tank is gone and I still have more I need to vacuum. It stirs up the tank something bad and makes everything all cloudy. After about a half an hour the filter settles everything back down. Is this normal? Thanks.

Do you stir the gravel with the siphon? I used to. Then I noticed that I could greatly reduce the muck stirred up by pushing the siphon into the gravel and pulling it strait up and then moving it to the side - instead of moving it to the side while still in the gravel.